One (1) #telephone number successfully ported to #VOIP, one more left to go (there's 2 pairs for main and aux line, provisioned on same number but those will go to 3 channel #SIP trunk)

For some reason #Openreach have left battery on the pair (I would have thought they would want to recover capacity on the line card and it would just go dis, as there are still going to be a handful of customers remaining on #PSTN circuits.

I thought a lot of "analogue" trunks these days were literally just a SIP ATA connected to the copper pair at the Telephone Exchange (or from a street cabinet) but it looks like Openreach really are getting the last out of the old #SystemX kit!

There is no dialtone or even NU tone, just some noise..

#Telecoms #Telephony

Just spent half day reconfiguring #SIP trunks on #FreePBX and #Asterisk (using chan_pjsip) as one of our providers silently yoinked #IAX2 support - #VOIP is as cursed if not more so than #PSTN / #ISDN circuits, except you don't have to crawl around as much in corners and roofspaces amongst spiders, mouse-like rodents and possibly snakes (if you have them in your country), and there's less chance of ending up on the wrong side of 100-120 volts (either AC or DC, depending on whether its ringing voltage or the strong DC voltage that British Telecom and others used to send down certain ISDN lines in 90s/00s)

#Telecoms

UK regulatory body OFCOM has fined Virgin Media £23.8 million for putting vulnerable customers at risk of harm during the switch from analogue to digital telephony.

Report - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8qv9319zlo

OFCOM investigation statement - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/vulnerable-customers/investigation-into-virgin-medias-compliance

OFCOM press release - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/vulnerable-customers/ofcom-fines-virgin-media-23.8-million-for-putting-vulnerable-customers-at-risk-of-harm

Nice (but admittedly very surprising) to see a UK regulator handing out a hefty fine for cutting off access to lifesaving telecare alarms during the switchover.

Vulnerable people were always going to be at risk from the switch from good old analogue phone lines (PSTN) to digital lines (VOIP).

The switchover was not mandated by government - it is an industry led programme. Consequently there will be gaps, errors and omissions because corporate people stuck in offices staring at spreadsheets don't always have the full picture and thinking of older and vulnerable customers at the forefront of their way of working.

IIRC, UK government didn't do much to ensure best practice, proper consultation and good communications to customers until people started to complain to their MPs. Then words were had, guidance issued and deadlines for the final analogue switch off extended.

I've been part of meetings where local authorities and essential service providers have spoken out about the issues they face resulting from this switchover.

Some of them have been brutally scathing about Communications Providers like Virgin Media and BT.

Today's finding from OFCOM and the punishment handed down backs up those thoughts and comments.

#OFCOM #VirginMedia #DigitalSwitchover #PSTN